As we noted last month when he locked in a lead role in diplomatic comedy **International Incident, Ken Jeong can be something of a Marmite presence in movies: you either enjoy his high-energy antics or you wish to Zeus he’d tone it down a bit. Still, he feels like the right sort of comic persona to fit in with the Ride Along sequel that is quickly coming together following the first movie’s success this year.
Acting swiftly to capitalise on the movie’s $153 million worldwide takings, Universal has director Tim Story once again rounding up Kevin Hart and Ice Cube to play mismatched buddy cops. You’ll recall that Hart is Ben, the loud-mouthed security guard who joins the police to impress fiancée Angela (Tika Sumpter) and, possibly more crucially, to win favour with her ultra-grumpy badass police brother James (Cube). While they don’t initially get along, they do find some common ground and… well, you can predict the rest.
Exactly what they’ll be doing in the sequel remains to be seen, though we’d expect some more of the personality clash and more scenes of the hapless Hart struggling to live up to his brother-in-law's reputation. Jeong joins a cast that includes fellow new arrivals Benjamin Bratt and Olivia Munn.
In addition to International Incident, Jeong has roles in** The Duff** and The Penguins Of Madagascar coming up for release. Ride Along 2 will be with us on January 15, 2016.